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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Fear is an experience you can’t buy. Our mind gives it free of cost! Thinking about bungy jumping used to send chills down my spine. Nevertheless, I wanted to do bungy, at least once before I stop breathing. I wanted to experience free fall, wanted to experience being in the air. Compulsory bungy, as a part of my training, came as blessing in disguise.

Jumpin heights in Rishikesh is the only place in India, where bungy jumping can be done from a fixed platform. A cantilever platform built at a height of 83 meters is used for bungy. Four safety checks and experienced bungy masters from New Zealand assure you that there is very little chance of accident. But even the slightest chance of accident harbors deepest fear in the mind!

The moment I started walking towards the bungy platform, plenty of things were going through my mind. Some corner of my mind was repeatedly asking me to back off! For a moment, I felt why this Kolaveri? But I managed to keep the smile on my face with some difficulty. The bungy staff at the platform were happy to see smile on my face, but deep inside, i was terribly scared. Bungy cord was finally hooked to my ankle attachment and an additional rope was hooked to body harness to make sure I won’t be detached from the platform!

Instead of just falling from the edge, I wanted to take a jump in the air like I do in the swimming pool. Bungy master was impressed and said, “Awesome! Go ahead!”. I looked down from the edge only to discover that there is hardly any water in the river! For a moment, I thought, fear - a little-death - is something you can’t get over until you do the thing you are afraid of. By that time, bungy master started saying, “Ready, One, Two, Three, Bungyyyyy!!”. My mind completely went blank and I managed to jump the way I do in swimming pool. Soon after I took off from the edge, for a fraction of second, I thought, what the heck am I going to hold? But, alas! I was free falling! I screamed and shouted with plenty of joy and bit of apprehension in the heart. The moment bungy cord started stretching, i realized that i am not going to fall off! It started recoiling and there was a sudden rush of blood to the head! Head was heavy, heart was lighter and my scream reflected the fun I never experienced before. I continued to oscillate up and down until all the elastic energy in the bungy cord was dissipated. Finally, after the oscillation stopped, i started moving down. The moment I rested on the ground, I felt my head was heavier than rest of the body. One should experience the rush of blood to the head!

After the cord was detached and body harness was removed, the joy of doing bungy had no limits. “Fear is something you can’t buy”. But at Jumpin Heights, you can buy it for 2000 bucks and even overcome it! My excitement after bungy made me to try the giant swing. I paid 1200 bucks more and tried swing as well. I must tell you, bungy and swing were the experiences of life time. one should try!

Sir,i accidentally stumbled upon your blog and am glad that i did.The way you narrate your experiences makes the blog very interesting.Also one of the other reasons that i started reading & following your blog is that i am aspirant of civil services and hopefully would make it to services one day.